SUBSCRIBE:

Inter-American Court called on to rule against Venezuela for unlawful RCTV shutdown

Share

On 20 May 2014, the Inter American Press Association (IAPA) asked the Inter-American Human Rights Court to rule against the Venezuelan government for the unlawful shutdown of Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) broadcasting company in 2007. The request came after the submission of the amicus curiae brief, which the Court is due to hold a hearing on at the end of the month.

In the name of the IAPA the organization's president, Elizabeth Ballantine, in coordination with the Press Freedom and Legal Affairs Committees, invited the “Inter-American Human Rights Court to rule against the Venezuelan government's decision to halt RCTV's license and retaliate against it for its editorial stance- a flagrant violation of the principles of freedom of expression established in the American Convention.”

The case before the Court concerns Marcel Granier and other shareholders, members of the Board of Directors and/or journalists of RCTV, a media outlet that began broadcasting in 1953, “whose license, according to report No. 112/12 of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights was not renewed by the government in 2007 in reprisal for their critical editorial stance and reports against the government,” the IAPA declared in its opinion.

The IAPA also said that “through precautionary measures presented by social organizations … the Constitutional Tribunal of the Supreme Court ordered the impoundment, without indemnity, of all RCTV platforms, with the aim of securing the immediate operation of a television signal.”

The government, under direct orders from former President, Hugo Chávez Frías, shut down the RCTV's open signal and confiscated its 48 repeater stations and broadcast equipment. A new public TV channel began operating after the station's equipments were disconnected. Televisora Venezolana Social (TVes), sponsored principally by the Venezuelan government, is using the frequencies that RCTV previously had and is operating throughout the country using the broadcast equipment belonging to it.

The IAPA has a long history of submitting opinions and creating initiatives at the Inter-American Court and Commission.

To the Court it presented arguments, among others, in the following cases: Ricardo Canese, Paraguay, in February 2004; the newspaper La Nación and journalist Mauricio Herrera Ulloa, Costa Rica, in March 2004; Gabriela Perozo, Aloys Marín, Oscar Dávila Pérez and other Globovisión, Venezuela, journalists, in April 2008; Luisiana Ríos and other journalists and employees of Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV), Venezuela, in July 2008; right to rectification that resulted in the Consultative Opinion OC-7/86 of 1986 and on the obligatory membership of journalists in a guild, which wound up in Consultative Opinion OC-85 of 1985.

With the Inter-American Commission the IAPA also filed an amicus curiae brief on the case v. The Gleaner Company and Dudley Stokes of Jamaica in April 2004, and to that body has submitted the results of investigations into 29 unpunished murders of journalists committed in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Guatemala, Mexico and Paraguay. Of these cases 14 were admitted.

More from Venezuela

The government refused to recognize a decision by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) ordering the reinstatement of the terrestrial broadcast license of television station Radio Caracas Television (RCTV), which was taken off the air in 2007 after a highly politicized campaign against the channel by then president Hugo Chávez.

This report documents 45 cases from Caracas and three states, involving more than 150 victims, in which security forces have abused the rights of protesters and other people in the vicinity of demonstrations.

Since 2013, law enforcement authorities in Bangladesh have illegally detained scores of opposition activists and held them in secret without producing them before courts, as the law requires. In most cases, those arrested remain in custody for weeks or months before being formally arrested or released. Others however are killed in so-called armed exchanges, and many remain “disappeared.”

This study examines the existence of criminal defamation and insult laws in the territory of the 57 participating States of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). In doing so, it offers a broad, comparative overview of the compliance of OSCE participating States’ legislation with international standards and best practices in the field of defamation law and freedom of expression.

READ AND DOWNLOADThis study analyses current trends in civil defamation and privacy cases in Hungary involving the media and summarises key challenges for freedom of the press and expression. Written by Hungarian media lawyer Bea Bodrogi, the study examined 250 court decisions related to civil protection of 'personality rights', an area in Hungarian law that includes defamation, privacy and personal image.

Freedom Forum has issued a review of Nepal's National Mass Communications Policy 2016. Among others, FF says the policy fails to articulate constitutional provisions relating to freedom of expression and mass communication. The policy, they said, also seems to promote centralided regulation, instead of self-regulation.

The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in 2016 maintained its control over all public affairs and punished those who challenged its monopoly on power. Authorities restricted basic rights, including freedom of speech, opinion, association, and assembly. All religious groups had to register with the government and operate under surveillance. Bloggers and activists faced daily police harassment and intimidation, and were subject to arbitrary house arrest, restricted movement, and physical assaults.

Malaysia's human rights situation continued to deteriorate in 2016, with human rights defenders, activists, political opposition figures, and journalists facing harassment and politically motivated prosecution. Those criticising the administration of Prime Minister Najib Razak or commenting on the government's handling of the 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) corruption scandal have been particular targets.

Authorities continue to use sedition and criminal defamation laws to prosecute citizens who criticise government officials or oppose state policies. In a blow to free speech, the government in 2016 argued before the Supreme Court in favour of retaining criminal penalties for defamation. The court upheld the law.

After already cracking down on freedom of information in recent years, President Erdoğan has taken advantage of the abortive coup d’état and the state of emergency in effect since 20 July to silence many more of his media critics, not only Gülen movement media and journalists but also, to a lesser extent, Kurdish, secularist and left-wing media.

This publication presents the findings of the media development assessment in Mongolia that began in 2012 to determine the state of the media in the country. The assessment was based on the UNESCO/IPDC Media Development Indicators (MDIs), an internationally recognized analytical tool used to provide detailed overviews of national media landscapes and related media development priorities.

“After the initial optimism during the Euromaidan movement, many journalists have become disillusioned. They are faced with the triple challenge of the war in the Eastern part of the country, the economic crisis and the digitalization of mass media.”

An officer of the Myanmar army recently filed a criminal complaint against two journalists for allegedly sowing disunity among the military. Even though mediation by the Press Council caused the military to withdraw the case, this incident demonstrates how the military continues to throw its weight to get back at what it perceives as negative publicity.

The government uses draconian laws such as the sedition provisions of the penal code, the criminal defamation law, and laws dealing with hate speech to silence dissent. These laws are vaguely worded, overly broad, and prone to misuse, and have been repeatedly used for political purposes against critics at the national and state level.

In recent years, the space afforded to civil society to operate freely has been shrinking dramatically across the world, presenting a serious threat to democracy and human rights. Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) have been especially badly affected by this shrinking political space.

The report is a frank assessment of the recent regime of online censorship and mass surveillance against a backdrop of longstanding, serious abuses of the judicial process and attacks on freedom of expression by Turkish authorities.

The report surveys the rocky landscape for media and public discourse since the ruling military junta lifted the curtain on the southeast Asian nation in 2012 after five decades of isolation from the modern world.

With the environment now recognized as a major challenge for humankind, Reporters Without Borders believes that particular attention should be paid to the journalists who take greats risk to investigate sensitive, environment-related subjects. The report highlights a steady deterioration in the situation for environmental reporters, who are increasingly exposed to many kinds of pressure, threats and violence.

IFEX publishes original and member-produced free expression news and reports. Some member content has been edited by IFEX. We invite you to contact [email protected] to request permission to reproduce or republish in whole or in part content from this site.